Standards

Plate Tectonics and Earth’s Structure

1. Plate tectonics accounts for important features of Earth’s surface and major geologic

events. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know evidence of plate tectonics is derived from the fit of the continents;

the location of earthquakes, volcanoes, and midocean ridges; and the distribution

of fossils, rock types, and ancient climatic zones.

b. Students know Earth is composed of several layers: a cold, brittle lithosphere; a

hot, convecting mantle; and a dense, metallic core.

c. Students know lithospheric plates the size of continents and oceans move at rates

of centimeters per year in response to movements in the mantle.

d. Students know that earthquakes are sudden motions along breaks in the crust

called faults and that volcanoes and fissures are locations where magma reaches

the surface.

e. Students know major geologic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,

and mountain building, result from plate motions.

f. Students know how to explain major features of California geology (including

mountains, faults, volcanoes) in terms of plate tectonics.

g. Students know how to determine the epicenter of an earthquake and know that

the effects of an earthquake on any region vary, depending on the size of the

earthquake, the distance of the region from the epicenter, the local geology, and

the type of construction in the region.

California 18 Department of Education Reposted June 11, 2009GRADE SIX

Shaping Earth’s Surface

2. Topography is reshaped by the weathering of rock and soil and by the transporta­

tion and deposition of sediment. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know water running downhill is the dominant process in shaping the

landscape, including California’s landscape.

b. Students know rivers and streams are dynamic systems that erode, transport

sediment, change course, and flood their banks in natural and recurring patterns.

c. Students know beaches are dynamic systems in which the sand is supplied by

rivers and moved along the coast by the action of waves.

d. Students know earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and floods change

human and wildlife habitats.

Heat (Thermal Energy) (Physical Sciences)

3. Heat moves in a predictable flow from warmer objects to cooler objects until all the

objects are at the same temperature. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know energy can be carried from one place to another by heat flow or by

waves, including water, light and sound waves, or by moving objects.

b. Students know that when fuel is consumed, most of the energy released becomes

heat energy.

c. Students know heat flows in solids by conduction (which involves no flow of

matter) and in fluids by conduction and by convection (which involves flow of

matter).

d. Students know heat energy is also transferred between objects by radiation (radia­

tion can travel through space).

Energy in the Earth System

4. Many phenomena on Earth’s surface are affected by the transfer of energy through

radiation and convection currents. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know the sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on Earth’s

surface; it powers winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle.

b. Students know solar energy reaches Earth through radiation, mostly in the form of

visible light.

California Department of Education Reposted June 11, 19 2009GRADE SIX

c. Students know heat from Earth’s interior reaches the surface primarily through

convection.

d. Students know convection currents distribute heat in the atmosphere and oceans.

e. Students know differences in pressure, heat, air movement, and humidity result in

changes of weather.

Ecology (Life Sciences)

5. Organisms in ecosystems exchange energy and nutrients among themselves and

with the environment. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers

into chemical energy through photosynthesis and then from organism to organ­

ism through food webs.

b. Students know matter is transferred over time from one organism to others in the

food web and between organisms and the physical environment.

c. Students know populations of organisms can be categorized by the functions they

serve in an ecosystem.

d. Students know different kinds of organisms may play similar ecological roles in

similar biomes.

e. Students know the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can support

depends on the resources available and on abiotic factors, such as quantities of

light and water, a range of temperatures, and soil composition.

Resources

6. Sources of energy and materials differ in amounts, distribution, usefulness, and the

time required for their formation. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know the utility of energy sources is determined by factors that are

involved in converting these sources to useful forms and the consequences of the

conversion process.

b. Students know different natural energy and material resources, including air, soil,

rocks, minerals, petroleum, fresh water, wildlife, and forests, and know how to

classify them as renewable or nonrenewable.

c. Students know the natural origin of the materials used to make common objects.

California 20 Department of Education Reposted June 11, 2009GRADE SIX

Investigation and Experimentation

7. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful

investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content

in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform

investigations. Students will:

a. Develop a hypothesis.

b. Select and use appropriate tools and technology (including calculators, comput­

ers, balances, spring scales, microscopes, and binoculars) to perform tests, collect

data, and display data.

c. Construct appropriate graphs from data and develop qualitative statements

about the relationships between variables.

d. Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in written reports and

oral presentations.

e. Recognize whether evidence is consistent with a proposed explanation.

f. Read a topographic map and a geologic map for evidence provided on the maps

and construct and interpret a simple scale map.

g. Interpret events by sequence and time from natural phenomena (e.g., the relative

ages of rocks and intrusions).

h. Identify changes in natural phenomena over time without manipulating the

phenomena (e.g., a tree limb, a grove of trees, a stream, a hillslope).